


hair heart hearth home

by InfinityIllusion



Category: Bleach, Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: Blanket Permission, Gen, Howl's Moving Castle AU, Ichigo the suffering PhD student, Ishida another suffering post grad student, Kisuke is a star, Kisuke is having a lot of fun, Kisuke uses They/Them pronouns in this fic, M/M, Other, Would be post canon but since canon isn't really a thing in this, but other than that, do not copy to another site, no beta we die like men, technically maybe kinda steampunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24387082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfinityIllusion/pseuds/InfinityIllusion
Summary: Kisuke falls, and gains hair, a heart, a hearth, a home.Ichigo, on the other hand, really just came across pretty much everything that's happened at this point by accident (and the tried and true "make it up as you go"), but that doesn't mean the last seven years of his life haven't been the best he's ever had.  And all it took was a book on magic and another world.UraIchi Week 2020: Day 2 Different Species
Relationships: Ishida Uryuu & Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Comments: 11
Kudos: 100
Collections: UraIchi Week 2020





	hair heart hearth home

**Author's Note:**

> So, I uh. I'm really not sure how this came out as this? I have a completely different (and exceedingly vague) outline on my phone that much more closely follows Howl's Moving Castle canon (Benihime would make an excellent Calcifer, who was even sassier, don't tell me she wouldn't), but this is what happened instead.
> 
> I also realize that, yes, crossover day was yesterday, and yet, I'm pretty sure I've only ever managed to write crossovers of some kind when I've written for UraIchi events, with the exception of time travel fics. So. Y'know. If it ain't broke don't fix?
> 
> In all seriousness though, I hope you enjoy this! Thanks again to miramellyn, InternetSydney, and spj/speos for letting me ramble and complain about Bleach when none of you are in this fandom!

* * *

Every star is a soul. They take one breath when they’re born, and spend the rest of their life exhaling.

Every star is a soul. They sing through the vacuum of space, and bicker within the hierarchy of brightest and oldest and loudest.

Every star is a soul. Souls fall, discordant.

~IiI~

“Kurosaki, why the hell is your hair even longer today?”

It’s not really Ichigo’s hair anymore, but whatever, that’s not something he’s going to explain to Ishida, since the hair is, technically, on his head and sort of still growing out of it. Neither Kisuke nor he are exactly sure how this is happening (beyond the constant of _magic_ ), but it is, and neither has interest in testing their contract that much. There’s ultimately very little that Kisuke wouldn’t be interested in fiddling with, but the contract is definitely within that limited sphere of Not Touching.

Ichigo sighs, because this question is his fault in the first place. But also: _Ishida_.

“Ishida, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to. Also, why are you here?”

“Kurosaki, what the hell did you do to your hair?” Whatever, he probably needed more books on fabric creation during one of the Rameses’ reigns or something. Or maybe that’s what he was writing about?

A (or all of the) Ancient Egyptian Rameses was involved, and so was fabric and fashion, knowing his friend.

“It grew.”

“That’s not an answer that qualifies for the answer you _literally just gave me_.”

Ichigo rolls his eyes, gathering up strands of living fire in his hands and reaching around for two of the various hair sticks (engraved and twisted rods of silver and other kinds of metal to help mask his hair, and serve as a weapon in a pinch) Kisuke had crafted him. He’d had his hair up earlier, but there’s only so much time he can deal with it up and weighing on his head, and only so much time Kisuke is interested in being bound in any way.

Hair of a fire demon, albeit hair sacrificed to a fire demon, was rather hard to control and a liability to libraries, especially in Karakura town, where fire demons were the stuff of myth, occult, and witchcraft.

And didn’t live on people’s heads or hold the remains of their heart.

“And it’s the answer that will make the most sense to you and will make you happier at the end of the day,” Ichigo ultimately retorts. If Ishida had a hard enough trouble with ghosts and believing in them, and he’d grown up with them (and Ichigo working with them, or against them, depending on the ghost), then magic and alternate worlds would just be a step too far.

No need to break his friend’s mind, too much at least.

Ishida was not quite a delicate soul, but…well. Ichigo really wasn’t interested in figuring out the potion for restoring hearing again.

Thinking of alternate worlds, he was pretty sure that he was going to be late for dinner if he didn’t start his way to river soon. He was pretty sure the twins would kill him if he was late again.

“What would make me happy, is if you would tell me why your hair grew a _foot_ since I last saw you. It hasn’t even been 24 hours! _Hair doesn’t grow that fast, and I would know_.”

He really would, Ichigo muses. Too bad for Ishida, though. Ichigo kept shuffling various papers and books into his bag when he says blandly, “Hair growth formula I’m trying for one of the biochem people.”

Ishida pales, having been on the end of some of the things those guys have come up with. Mostly because he made the mistake of asking them to make some different kinds of dye for him and then they went well above and beyond what he wanted. Well above. For once, things weren’t Ichigo’s fault, between the two of them. It was a momentous occasion, no matter what Ishida thinks of it.

“That’s not just growing your hair then.”

“And yet, did you really want that answer?” Ichigo asks with a raised eyebrow. “Your face says otherwise.”

Ishida recovers quickly. Snark and sass are his main forms of energy, Ichigo is pretty sure. Ishida could live off those two things, plus fashion, alone and survive without any need for food or water or sleep like a normal person. Ichigo wouldn’t let him, because that’s not healthy, but Ishida could do it. Not that Ichigo is the best at the whole “taking care of himself with the eating at regular times, and sleeping at regular times,” but that’s just part and parcel of being split between two worlds and also being a PhD student.

“Right, you were protecting my sanity, because that’s always a high priority for you.”

“Of course it is – just like introducing you to Orihime and a whole bunch of ghosts was to help your rigidity. Creativity is vital to your field, and so must be an open mind.”

Some of the hair escaping the bun crackles as Kisuke laughs.

Ichigo takes the chance to walk very rapidly from the library and the bright red face of his friend as he clearly contemplated attempting murder in the school library.

“See you tomorrow, Ishida,” Ichigo can’t help but call over his shoulder.

The killing intent spikes.

Yep, sometimes it’s a very good thing that Ichigo had alternate housing. It meant that it was even harder for Ishida to murder him with fashion or something he or the biochem people cooked up, even if it meant trying to prevent almost everyone he knew on this side from trying to head over to his place for meetings.

But that was why humans invented libraries and coffee shops. Even Itces-Yusolo had coffee shops.

Kisuke lifts his hair and yanks out the silver rods, shoving them into Ichigo’s bag right before Ichigo sprints down a very specific stretch of the riverbank, takes a flying leap towards the water, and into Kisuke’s automata arms in their shop in Itces-Yusolo.

~IiI~

There’s a shop in the center of a road three blocks from the main thoroughfare, and thirteen blocks from the Palace. It’s red brick atop grey stone, just like any number of shops around the city in the kingdom of Itces-Yusolo. There are two windows, led-lined and both to the right of the door. The glass is thick and quick to catch the light – and a passer’s gaze. Sometimes, in the moonlight, shapes scurry across the surface, mere whispers of smoke and light and fire. But only sometimes, and only if the observer is very (un)lucky.

If they’re exceedingly unlucky, they’re compelled reach out and touch the glass.

Above the door, painted on the brick, is the word Inventor, but it’s weather-worn in a way most of the rest of the shop isn’t. Besides, anyone can tell from the sigil – red fire caressing, before either consuming or creating a dark sword – on both sides of the word, that gleam brighter than the sun off the window glass to those who look for them, that inventions are the least of what the shop offers. Or the most, because these will not be inventions that pass gently in the night.

All inventions are powerful – big, small, great, humble.

But, not all inventions are powered by magic, nor come from this particular shop.

And, if it’s protection that you need instead? There’s certainly no one better, although your need and the offeror’s might differ.

Keep that in mind, should you seek this shop out from the multitude that line the streets of Itces-Yusolo.

~IiI~

“So, who came by today?” Ichigo asks after finishing his mouthful of dinner. He’d only very nearly been late, and Yuzu and Karin were only just appeased. Still, neither of them will let him do the dishes to make it up to them, which he’s definitely not complaining about, because actually getting to talk to Kisuke is usually the highlight of his day.

“The Head Magician. They were talking about another war or something, or maybe it was preparing in the event of a siege.”

Kisuke pauses from where he’s going over the list of herbal inventory. “They could also have been talking about a public bathing area.”

“But water was involved somehow?” Ichigo asks leadingly, picking up a potential common thread.

Kisuke stares blankly at their paper for a moment before responding. “Ah, yes. I’ve no idea why they came to me, since it’s not like I specialize in water manipulation.”

Ichigo snorts a little at that. “Maybe they think steam counts?”

Kisuke rolls their eyes as best they can when they’re not projecting their face onto the automata’s, or otherwise when they’re out of their body and in their hearth. The hair on Ichigo’s head twirls instead, as if to accentuate the eye roll.

“Steam is different, given the introduction of heat and the change of state. Not only does the physical body change, but the manipulation of the two is one that, as the Head Magician, they should know. Why they keep asking me about this, I’ll never know.” They totally know, and they still get a kick out of it, probably because no one has ever actually figured out that instead of being some kind of partial prosthetics, Kisuke is just straight up possessing an automaton. Which is ten different kinds of illegal, except for the fact that they’re actually the thing powering the automaton, thereby negating its actual definition as a “moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being.”

“So did you play dumb and offer them candy until they left, or did you start talking high level fire magic instead, just to piss them off.”

“Both!” Kisuke’s hair fluffs up around Ichigo’s head and sparks with the sheer glee that’s equally evident in Kisuke’s voice.

“How long did it take them to leave this time?” Ichigo asks, amused and grinning at his partner.

“Five minutes into the rant, I think they’re finally catching on that I do this to make them stop asking me to manipulate water.” There’s a distinct note of sadness at losing such an entertaining pastime.

“Wow, it only took them five years,” Ichigo says dryly.

Kisuke slowly shakes their head, “Truly, the monarchy could do with a better advisor. Alas, we make do.”

Ichigo laughs. “Or drive them crazy.”

“Ichigo, are you accusing me of sedition and treason against the Head Magician?” Kisuke’s hair flies to their chest, flames lengthening to bridge the gap and splitting to give the impression of a hand over their heart.

“Oh, I would _never_ ,” he replies, voice heavy with enough to sarcasm to sink a fleet of flying ships to the core of this world and possibly into Earth, too.

Kisuke’s laugh echoes up from the room in the automaton’s abdomen which houses their heart and main spirit.

It’s a good night, and one of many.

Still, Ichigo mourns that he’ll be one of the least published PhD students, and yet have such a wealth of experience in his chosen topic together with Kisuke. Admittedly, the practicality and validity of various uses of magic, potions, and poisons in Shakespeare is not exactly something Ichigo would want to publish to the everyday man in Karakura. He’d probably be laughed out of academic circles, since only certain people manage to gain enough practice and power to succeed in achieving anything in Karakura, or likely anywhere on Earth. Oh he could manage it if he presented it in tandem or from the perspective of sociology or archeology or something in that field, with the whole social reconstruction and why Shakespeare chose what he did in which play, but. That’s not actually what he’s researching.

He also doesn’t really want to publish it here, either, but he’s finishing it, publishing a copy or two just for when he needs something for whoever’s in charge (probably, eventually) as a bribe against trapping Kisuke in a position they don’t want, and fighting everyone with his spirit swords would probably get old after a while. Probably.

His swords tremble in their sheathes, laughing at him.

Plus, knowing these kingdoms and Ichigo’s own luck, someone will poison someone else at some point, and it’ll just so happen that they’ll have something Shakespeare thought of in theory and Ichigo will just. Have that information on hand.

(Even if Ichigo is equally sure that Kisuke could probably synthesize an antidote quite easily, it’d be nice to have the answer on hand and easily accessible to them for once.)

Seven years, splitting time between Itces-Yusolo and Karakura town, with his sisters joining them on the weekends or random days they’re not busy with their own activities, friends, or work.

Kisuke still has things to spark their interests, and Ichigo has someone to rely upon in all the different ways and things he didn’t quite realize he needed.

It was so very, very, very worth it, that trip seven years ago.

~IiI~

Kisuke was falling, but that was fine, really. They were more interested in listening to songs than singing, observing the different flares and dimming of others than expressing their own light, and they weren’t particularly high in the hierarchy of stars as a result. Stars, they rather thought, were quite boring.

Planets, now those had quite a lot of potential.

Certainly there was a chance they could die, but they might not. And certainly, even if they did, he’d learn ever so much more than if he’d stayed. Perhaps, they could even experiment, which was what they were technically doing right this second, hurtling towards the planet in front of them. They were experimenting if all fallen stars died.

Yoruichi, one of the few stars they’d miss, and who was something of a friend for all their strength and heat, would likely not agree, although they’d think it was fun to hurtle past so many other stars, through space, and time, and the universe. Tessai, another – their only other – friend, wouldn’t agree, even if they were curious as to what it all felt like and what the end results might be.

It was a pity that Kisuke likely wouldn’t be able to tell them about the experience. If they survived the experiment at all!

They might, really.

Possibly.

It won’t be boring, whatever happens.

And then they’re plunging through layers and vapor and burning until they’re dancing on the river as the others who fell sink into the rushing water, dancing on the solid ground and sparking, dying.

There’s so much to this planet – that’s what water can be, at a personal level, and this is what ground feels/tastes/smells like – and then there are hands, cradling them, holding them close.

Kisuke had not expected hands, or any other body.

“Who are you?” A voice breathes, a kindling wind on Kisuke’s dying sparks.

“A star,” they reply.

“But you’re dying,” the voice replies.

“I am,” they say, “all things die. This was a good experiment, though – I’ve learned how long I can live, after I’ve fallen.”

There’s a breath, a few beats of rest Kisuke can count out from the beat of the being’s heart. It’s not at all like rests in star song, and Kisuke revels in the experience.

“Would you like to live longer?”

Now it’s Kisuke’s turn for a few beats of rest. To keep things nice and even, because they’ve learned that most stars don’t appreciate their usual time scales and counter melodies.

“It would be nice,” Kisuke twirls a few sparks and they slowly ascend, something like a shrug in their voice. “But only if it were interesting.” It’s been very interesting so far, but best not be too eager.

The voice smiles. “I think life could be very interesting, if you let it.”

“I suppose.” Kisuke tries to think back to when being a star was fun and entertaining. It’s hard – it’s been years, and they’re dying, but a few things stand out. Their discoveries of pitch and tone in relation to brightness, and prediction of various events and stages and upsets to the hierarchy, Yoruichi, and Tessai.

And with that, they’re swallowed in a laugh by someone whose name he doesn’t know, but who’s promised something _interesting_.

~IiI~

Every star has a soul. Souls rise, harmonious.

* * *

And that's a wrap!

Please let me know if I messed anything up too badly, and check out below in the end notes for more on the hair and heart thing!

Comments and kudos welcome!

~Fins

**Author's Note:**

> Extra tidbits that don't really get explained in fic:
> 
> 1\. The hair and heart thing. So, it's be ages since I last read Howl's Moving Castle, and the movie doesn't really get into what that whole contract entails, but in this fic at least, Ichigo can't give Kisuke his whole heart. Why? Because his sisters and friends are kinda taking up bits of it, and while the literal organ might be Kisuke's for the taking, magic and metaphors seems like a Thing. So, the hair, to make up the difference.
> 
> Why his hair? Because I really, really like long haired!Ichigo and also because I think that, as a grad student (and please note I have never been a grad student so you can take all of that scene with the Dead Sea's entirety of salt), and also because I feel like once growing it out was an option (if anyone wants to hear me talk about uniform and hair style requirements at my schools, hit me up), he'd go for it as a little bit of a tribute to his mom. Ichigo's hair is spiky when it's short and vaguely tamer when it's longer (and probably not weighted down by like. Sweat and 3 months of chilling in the Dankai in meditation...or at least I'm pretty sure that's what happened in canon. Eh, canon.), but I like the idea of him taking after his mom in terms of hair texture, and that's about what my brother's hair looks like when he doesn't get a hair cut for a bit and his hair is definitely not straight. It's not as curly as mine, but it ain't straight.
> 
> So Kisuke takes the hair...and basically does what he's doing with Ichigo's heart - more or less possessing it. It's still on Ichigo's head, and also on fire because /star/, but they work around that.
> 
> 2\. Biochem sounds like a ton of fun and a ton of work and crying. Mad respect, they should be allowed to have fun in fics.
> 
> 3\. Definition of automaton from the New Oxford American Dictionary. 
> 
> 4\. Yeah, the place name is an anagram, because how could I resist?


End file.
